If you close your eyes
by Ultimate Queen of Cliffies
Summary: One-shot. Fiyero runs into Elphaba in the Emerald City. Fiyeraba. A little fluff, a lot of angst. Warning: major character death. (That says enough, doesn't it?)


**AN: www dot instagram dot com slash maddyxhunters ****- could this be the reason why Siarenthander wanted me to create an Instagram account?  
Seriously though, guys, this is genius xD. Yes, I only found it now, but I love it! ****I fear, though, that this one-shot won't really help things with the Hunters and all... :')**

**And yes, this is the third one-shot in two days. I'm on a roll here.**

**The only reason the title is what it is is because I got inspiration for this whilst listening to Pompeii by Bastille. It's a****ngsty. Fiyeraba. Fluff. More angst. Pretty much what you're used to with me... only with a Happy Ending (and no, those capital letters aren't accidental, they're a hint as to the ending. Which obviously isn't happy).**

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"What in Oz are you doing here?" Fiyero hissed as he grabbed the arm of the woman standing before him and pulled her around a corner, out of the sight of the Gale Force soldiers that had been right behind him. He looked around; then he pulled her through a doorway to his right, into an empty store.

She looked up at him, and he was struck by the similarities between her back then and her now. Her eyes were still glowing with that same intensity, though they also seemed different now; there was more pain, more weariness than there had been before. She looked like she hadn't had a good meal or a good night's sleep in weeks, and yet she wore the look of a fugitive with the same quiet dignity and grace he remembered her wearing her schoolgirl look – the one with the shapeless black frocks and the glasses, and the combat boots Glinda had always so detested.

She pulled her long, green fingers through her tangled hair. "Fiyero."

"Answer my question," he barked, more harshly than he had intended. She didn't pull a muscle, though he could see a glimmer of annoyance in her eyes at being spoken to like this.

"Elphaba," he said, lowering his voice. "This is the Emerald City. If anyone sees you…"

She smoothed out her skirt. "No-one will see me."

"I saw you," he pointed out.

She looked up at him. "So you did." Her eyes narrowed. "So what are you waiting for?"

He met her eyes, startled. "What?"

"Shoot me," she suggested. "Or call your _colleagues _on me. I'm sure you'll be rewarded greatly for capturing Oz's greatest enemy."

He sighed and deflated, his shoulders sagging. "Oh, Fae…"

Her eyes widened in surprise, which was more emotion than she had shown to him so far. It was clear that he had completely taken her off guard with the use of his old nickname for her.

He stepped forward and raised his hand to her face. She flinched, but did not pull away.

"Have you got any idea how hard I've been searching for you?" he whispered. "How long I've been waiting to finally find you?"

There was a scowl on her face. "I can imagine," she sneered, "since you started working your way up in the Gale Force the moment you graduated Shiz."

His hand dropped and she stepped away, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"I know you've changed," she said. "I have, too. We all have. And I didn't expect you to ever spare me a second thought, aside from all the things you've heard about me over the past four years. But honestly, Fiyero… I hadn't expected _this _of you." She gestured towards his Gale Force uniform. "Captain of the Guard? You've really grown to hate me that much?"

"What?" Fiyero stared down at his uniform, then back at her, horror written all over his face when he realised that was what she had been thinking all this time. "No! Elphaba, that's not what's going on at all!"

She lifted an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked sceptically. "What is going on, then?"

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to come up with an answer that didn't sound either creepy or completely insane.

She turned away from him, obviously intending to walk away and leave him behind.

He acted on impulse. He grabbed her wrist and spun her around, pulling her towards him until their noses were almost touching.

"I searched for you," he breathed, "because I love you."

With that, he crashed his lips against hers.

It wasn't a gentle kiss. It was needy, hungry and passionate - the result of years spent apart, yearning for one another. Fiyero pressed Elphaba back against the wall, tangling his fingers in her hair as he kissed her deeply.

"I love you," he whispered between kisses.

She closed her eyes, willing herself to stay strong; but she just couldn't. Not with him pressed up against her like this. She opened her eyes again and looked into his, and she was lost.

"I love you, too," she mumbled, hating herself for being so weak; but that feeling evaporated the moment he pressed his lips back to hers.

"Come on," he said when he pulled away again. He took her hand. "Let's get out of here."

She spluttered. "What do you mean –"

"I'm coming with you."

That made her stop in her tracks right away. "What?"

"I'm coming with you," he repeated, trying to pull her with him.

She dug in her heels. "Fiyero, you can't," she insisted. "Don't be stupid."

"I'm not being stupid," he said, looking at her. "Fae, I want to come with you. Why do you think I've been looking for you all these years? Just so that I can let you walk away again now? No way. No way, Elphaba. I'm coming with you, and that's the end of it."

"But Glinda –"

"Glinda doesn't mean anything to me."

She looked at him sharply. "Don't say that," she reprimanded him, frowning. "You know that's not true."

He sighed and conceded. "Fine. I care about her. Just… not like that." He shook his head. "Never like that. I don't love her, Fae. I know this will hurt her, but I can't let you go. Not again."

She looked down. He pulled her back into his arms and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"It'll be alright," he whispered. "Glinda will be okay, you'll see. She's always loved life in the spotlights. She's right where she's always wanted to be." He pulled away to look at her. "And we," he said, "we'll be fine, too. As long as we're together."

She shook her head, trying to push him away. "I won't let you endanger yourself like that. I won't let you leave Glinda for me. I won't let you throw away your life."

"I'm not throwing away my life." He stepped closer. She stepped back. He grabbed her upper arms and forced her to look at him.

"I'm only just starting it."

She shook her head again, slowly. "Fiyero…"

He kissed her, and all her resolve melted away.

He pulled her across the empty store, to the back, where they found another door. "Come on." He led her outside and into a back alley.

"There she is!"

Fiyero's eyes widened when he heard the cry of one of his own Gale Force soldiers; and he grabbed Elphaba's hand tightly and all but dragged her in the opposite direction.

"Fiyero," she said as she followed him, trying not to stumble over her own feet. "Fiyero, stop."

"No!"

"Fiyero, let me go."

He spun around, and she was taken aback by the panic in his sapphire blue eyes.

"Go back to them," she said softly. "I'll be fine. I don't want to drag you down with me, Yero. I'd never be able to forgive myself."

He just wordlessly shook his head and took hold of her hand again, hurrying around a corner and pushing her ahead of him. "Fae, please… please just let me do this for you."

She sighed, but complied, running ahead of him. He was right behind her, still holding her hand. They ran together, rounded another corner…

…and found themselves trapped in an alley with a dead end.

"No!" Fiyero looked around, panicking. They were surrounded by high walls on all sides. No way to escape unless they went back… straight into the arms of the Gale Force.

They were trapped.

"Broom." Fiyero whirled around to look at Elphaba. "Do you have your broom?"

She shook her head. "I hid it in the forest before I came into the City," she said. "I thought I would attract less attention without it."

Fiyero bit his lip, trying to keep himself from screaming. "Oh, Oz, what are we going to do?"

She looked at him, a calm in her eyes that seemed completely misplaced to him right now. "You are going to capture me."

"What?" His voice sounded uncharacteristically high in his own ears.

"Take out your gun," she said calmly. "Point it at me. Pretend you caught me. You'll be the hero of Oz, Glinda's heart won't be broken, and everything will be the way it's supposed to."

"Elphaba, you don't understand." He took both her hands in his and looked into her eyes pleadingly. "After that debacle with the flying Monkeys, Morrible and the Wizard ordered us to shoot you on sight. If they see I caught you, they'll expect me to kill you on the spot!"

She raised her chin, her facial expression unreadable, eyes still calm. "Then kill me."

He gawked at her.

"Yero," she said softly. "This has been a long time coming. I've been defying the Wizard and all of Oz for too long already… I knew this would happen sooner or later. I was bound to get caught at some point. This is it."

He could feel tears stinging his eyes, blurring his vision.

She laid her hand against the side of his face. "Yero, I'm sick of this," she tried to explain to him. "I'm tired of being alone, I'm tired of running. I don't want to do this anymore. I did what I could to help the Animals for as long as I could. I'm happy I got that chance. But now it's over, and we need to face that."

They could hear footsteps nearing and voices shouting. The Gale Force soldiers were getting closer and closer.

"If I could have chosen how I wanted to die," she said, looking deep into his eyes, "this would have been it. I never imagined that you could love me. The fact that you do means more to me than I could possibly say. I love you, Yero." She kissed him. "But it's time for you to let me go. For good this time."

She stepped back and smiled at him sadly.

"Tell Glinda I love her," she whispered. "And remember that I love you, too."

"Fae…" he choked out.

"Do it," she hissed, suddenly fiery again. "I want you to do this, Fiyero. I _need _you to do this. Right now we have to choose between either me dying or both of us, and I refuse to take you down with me. I need you to live."

"I don't want to live without you," he whispered.

"You have to." She looked him straight in the eyes. "Do it, Fiyero. I'm serious. I've never asked you for anything, but I'm asking you this now. Do this for me. Go back to Glinda. Be the best husband you can be to her. Make something of your life." She pulled out his gun and pushed it into his hands. He grabbed her hand, pulling her close for a long, passionate kiss.

"I love you," he said, his tears spilling over.

She wiped them away with her fingers and kissed his lips one more time. "I love you, too."

She moved away from him. He tried to hold on to her hand, but his fingers slipped out of hers as she stood about two metres away from him, chin raised defiantly and with resignation in her dark eyes.

He raised his gun and pointed it at her. His arms were trembling, his hands shaking. He wiped at the tears that still fell from his eyes.

"Stop crying," she whispered.

He rubbed his eyes dry with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Do me one favour," she said.

He looked at her. The amount of pain and grief in his eyes was so immense that she had to look away.

"Anything," he said.

She looked back up at him briefly. "Remember me," she asked him quietly. "You and Glin… remember me the way I was. The way I am. The way you know me, instead of the way I was made out to be."

He gave a slight nod, having to use all his will power to keep himself from crying. "I promise."

Just then, the Gale Force soldiers rounded the corner. Cries of surprise and excitement erupted from them.

"Captain! You caught her!"

Elphaba snarled at them. They retreated, slightly frightened.

"Captain," one of them whispered. "Shoot her."

"You know the Wizard's orders, sir," another soldier said. "We were told to shoot her on sight."

"Do it, then," said Elphaba, trying to make it sound like she was challenging them, but she was looking straight at Fiyero, trying to convince him. "_Do it_."

He pointed his gun at her heart. He took a step closer to her, the gun shaking along with his hands.

She put one hand over her heart and whispered, so softly only he could hear, "It's yours, Yero. It always was and it always will be."

He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Mine, too."

She gave him another of those sad smiles. "Now do it."

"Captain, what are you waiting for?" one of his colleagues demanded. "Do it!"

"Shh!" another shushed him. "He's just taking his time to enjoy the moment."

"Oh. Right." The first soldier grinned at Fiyero. "Take all the time you need, Captain."

Fiyero was still looking into Elphaba's eyes. She could see the battle he was fighting inside on his face, and she locked her eyes with his, trying to convey how serious she was about this.

"Please," she whispered.

He closed his eyes for a moment and nodded. He cocked his gun.

"Close your eyes," he said, his voice surprisingly steady.

She did.

He squeezed his own eyes shut and pulled the trigger.

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***hides***


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